A producer/distributor of purified gases, such as oxygen gas (O2) and nitrogen (N2) gas, continuously strives to increase the stability, quality, reliability, safety, and cost-effectiveness of its process plants. At such plants, air separation units (ASUs) are used to distill gases from atmosphere. Similarly, a producer may use a steam methane reforming (SMR) furnace to produce hydrogen gas (H2) from a hydrocarbon feed source. The resulting industrial gases are typically stored in tanks at the production facility or transported in trucks or over a pipeline to a storage facility or to customers for use in other industrial operations.
Running and maintaining this sort of large industrial system is a complicated and expensive process. As a result, sophisticated monitoring and process control systems are available which allow the producer to monitor and control a production facility. For example, software applications are available that monitor the operational state of ASUs, steam hydrocarbon reformers, pipeline components, including compressors pumps, valves, segments, product purity (e.g., hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen purity) flow rates, energy consumption rates, reaction/product temperatures and pressures, etc.
Sensors affixed to an ASU, SMR, or other components of the production/distribution facility are configured to relay information regarding a then current state of the device to an operations control center, where they are stored in a database. In some cases, the monitoring systems may be configured to raise an alarm when a monitored parameter (or combination of parameters) falls below (or climbs above) a predetermined value. In addition to monitoring, advanced process control systems may be configured to control the operational state of the production facility. For example, a feedback loop may be used to adjust the burners within an SMR furnace in order to maintain a desired reaction temperature. Additionally, multiple APC systems may operate in tandem with one another to control the operating conditions within a production facility.
Other complex industrial systems and processes use a similar approach. For example, a petroleum refinery (at one end of a pipeline) may be monitored from a central control center configured to receive data collected from the field devices of the refinery.